What a difference a day makes

Kendall and Nick in a selfie, minutes before Aulay's birth.

On Monday night I was concerned about Kendall and her baby. The hospital doctor, but not her OBGYN, said Kendall needed to stay in the hospital over night for observation. Due to her diagnosis of pre-echampia, we were told the baby would be delivered possibly a few weeks early. Still in Santa Fe, I got a call from Kendall early Tuesday morning telling me that her OBGYN (the same doctor who delivered her and Evan), had called in a neonatal specialist. Both doctors thought it would be best for Kendall and her unborn son to have an immediate delivery, even though she was only 27 weeks into her pregnancy. The threat was that, because Kendall's blood pressure was so high, she might have a seizure or stroke. This meant that the baby would be delivered three months early, which posed great risks to his premature lungs, heart and other organs.

I scrambled to get the earliest flight back to Houston. All the way driving to the ABQ airport, I was crying and praying and talking to my unborn grandson, telling him how much we all wanted to meet him and how we needed him to be strong. About 10:20 a.m. Mountain Time I felt a sense of calm and quit crying for some reason. I arrived at the airport, checked in and sat down to see if there was any news about Kendall and the baby in my email. Aulay Evan Zamora had arrived at approximately 11:15 a.m. Central Time, which was the same time I had a sense of calm while driving. Nick sent me three photos. While looking at the photos in the airport I was sobbing, laughing, and finally screamed in the middle of the Sunport Airport, "I'm a grandmother." When I got to the hospital in Houston around 4 p.m. Houston time, Nick took me immediately to see my new grandson, who weighed only 1 lb. 14 oz. at birth. I was amazed to see a beautiful, if tiny, little prince. And when I started talking to him through the incubator, Aulay open his eyes for the first time and started looking for where the sound was coming from. It was as if he had heard my voice before when I was talking to him while driving in the car between Santa Fe and ABQ. I'm convinced that he somehow heard me telling him how much we all wanted to meet him and how he needed to be strong.

Today I'm creating a frantic trip to Houston to be with my precious Kendall and her little prince. She isn't feeling great yet and is worried about the future developmental problems might be for her son. If it's not enough that she is a worried new mother, she also has a Ph.D. in development psychology. All I can do at this point is remind her how much I love her and how much I love him, whether he is "perfect" or not. Right now he looks amazingly well to me, and the reports we are getting from the doctors and nurses are that he is strong and stable. Thank you, God, for the little miracle we know as Aulay Evan Zamora. Please keep him, Kendall and Nick safe and warm in your arms until they are able to be together at home.